Small
arms:
big challenges
It is only six am but already thousands of people have gathered
around the food distribution trucks parked at Badbaado, on
the outskirts of bullet-scarred Mogadishu. What used to be
a sprawling neighbourhood has been transformed by war into
a squalid and bleak camp, home to 30,000 internally displaced
people.
Men queue in one line, women and children in another, and
for a couple of hours the food passes from hand to hand without
incident. Then chaos breaks out. Government troops begin
looting the rations of maize and oil. The civilians, desperate
for food, join in the scramble. Armed soldiers beat them
back with the butt of their rifles, before the pop of gunfire
fills the air. In the aftermath, ten people are dead and
the blood of the wounded stains the sandy ground.
The misuse of small arms – portable firearms designed
for personal use – has become a serious humanitarian
problem. With the majority of wars now fought by small, ill-trained
and lightly armed groups, violations of international humanitarian
law (IHL) occur with alarming frequency.
In many of the conflicts around the globe, small arms are
the weapons of choice, and their impact goes far beyond the
effect of a single bullet. The mere threat of a weapon can
displace thousands of people, prevent access to aid, and
enable the recruitment of child soldiers. And according to
Small Arms Survey, there are an estimated 875 million small
arms in the world.
The August 5 shooting at Badbaado was just the first in
a trio of violent gun-perpetuated incidents in Mogadishu.
The shootings were not only horrific; they are also against
the law. IHL – the rules that govern how conflicts
are fought – requires that all parties to a conflict
allow and facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance
to populations in need.
For the millions requiring urgent humanitarian assistance
in Somalia, the armed theft of rations is devastating. Small
Arms Survey research director Robert Muggah says the availability
of small arms worsens an already serious circumstance.
“Heavily armed militia, clan-based groups and armed
civilians exacerbates an already terrible situation,” he
said. “There is often quite a predatory component to
the violence, and relief aid efforts are often severely circumscribed
by their presence. There is no doubt that armed violence
is making a bad situation worse.”
Based upon the Geneva Conventions, IHL imposes on parties
to an armed conflict the legal obligations to reduce unnecessary
suffering and to protect civilians and other non-combatants.
It is applicable to all situations of armed conflict, regardless
of whether those fighting are regular armed groups or non-state
armed groups. The ICRC believes the proliferation of weapons
in the hands of new and undisciplined actors has outpaced
efforts to ensure compliance with these basic rules of warfare.
Somalia is an example of this.
Two decades of internal conflict have resulted in a country
ruled by war, not law, with civilians bearing the brunt of
the fighting amongst the multiple parties. Abdirahmud
Mohamud says the presence of small arms meant “you
are always vulnerable”. He fled to Kenya with his family
to escape the violence. “We witnessed people being
killed in their sleep, neighbours killing each other. It
was horrible and I am heartbroken.”
With small arms being used by a widening circle of actors
with decreasing levels of accountability, training and discipline,
all parties to the conflict have been accused of violating
IHL. The use of child soldiers is one example. Under the
rules of conflict (most recently strengthened as part of
the “Optional protocol on the involvement of children
in armed conflict,” signed by 142 states in 2002),
the recruitment of children under the age of 18 or their
participation in hostilities by national armed forces and
non-state armed groups is prohibited. However, the presence
of small arms enables parties not only to forcibly recruit
children, but to train them as fighters using the very weapons
they were abducted with. Muggah says the availability of
small arms makes ‘child soldiering’ easier and
more prolific.
“The fact is that small arms and light weapons are
quite simple technologies – the underlying mechanisms
have not changed in over 100 years. What is more, they are
lightweight, which is why kids are often involved. The cost
of arming children is therefore extremely low, which is why
we often see them used in conflicts in poorer nations around
the world.”
University of Western Sydney international law and human
rights law expert Professor Steven Freeland says the rapid
rate of weapon distribution makes it difficult for the law
to be upheld. “Weapons are distributed at an alarming
rate, and education and the realisation that rules apply
sometimes works at a much slower pace,” he said. “For
example, children who are indoctrinated, or those kidnapped
to be involved in conflicts and activities that clearly breach
rules – how are they to know, or even if they were
to be aware of the fundamental rules, how can they resist
them in those circumstances?”
The violence often forces large numbers of people to flee
their homes. Refugees and internally displaced populations
are prevented from returning home because the weapons remain
in circulation. Even before the drought sent the number of
refugees skyrocketing, arrival figures were already high
due to an upsurge in fighting. According to the United Nations
Refugee Agency (UHCR), the result of fighting in 2011 alone
has seen 200,000 people displaced, while 70,000 have fled
to neighbouring countries. The malnutrition, disease and
starvation that result from the displacement at the point
of a gun are indirectly attributable to these weapons.
However, curbing the proliferation of small arms is not
easy. For many countries it makes economic sense to sell
their weaponry cheaply – it costs money to destroy
old and excess arms and ammunition. As a result, small arms
are recycled from one conflict to the next. With a rifle
lasting up to 40 years, one single weapon in the wrong hands
can potentially devastate generations of people.
Professor Freeland says the rampant use of small arms means
education about IHL is more important than ever. “It’s
a tough issue, and what it means is that we’ve got
to be even more vigilant about the education process,” he
said. “Not only is it an education process about the
rules, but we also have to go deeper than that and work out
why these conflicts are happening. The rules are important
and law has a very important role to play, but that is not
the only thing that has to be done. If we could stop the
proliferation of small arms, it would be an absolutely positive
thing.”
By Zoe Noakes
For more about ICRC’s efforts
to raise awareness about the need to address the proliferation
of small arms and the role they play in violations
of international humanitarian law. For more, click here: |
|
